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Freshman pitchers struggle to save games, but the Bruins are not discouraged for upcoming matchup against UC Irvine

Freshman pitcher Nick Vander Tuig has blown four saves this season.

By Daily Bruin Staff

April 26, 2011 12:22 a.m.

STANFORD “”mdash; There’s a reason why some freshmen redshirt. They’re allowed to passively watch and learn from game action while still being a part of the team and working out each day.

Those chosen few who don’t redshirt are thrown into the fire. Their learning happens on the field, and it’s not always pretty. Just ask the UCLA baseball team.

Last weekend at Stanford, freshman pitchers Nick Vander Tuig and Zack Weiss combined to give up four earned runs and three walks in the bottom of the ninth inning to surrender the lead, the game and the series to the Cardinal. Vander Tuig has blown four saves this season as the team’s closer.

But coach John Savage ““ now in his seventh season in Westwood ““ has seen it all before, including the struggles that freshmen encounter in their first season.

“We’re going to win with them, and we’re going to lose with them,” he said. “It hurts. It’s a growing stage that they all have to go through.”

It doesn’t take junior ace Trevor Bauer long to remember another freshman closer who struggled to get out of games in his first season as a Bruin.

Bauer, also UCLA’s all-time wins leader and the nation’s current strikeout leader, started his UCLA career by losing three games in 2009 as a closer. He then went on to win nine consecutive games and was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

“I blew saves my freshman year, and then I wasn’t the closer anymore so you’ve got to stick with guys,” UCLA’s all-time leader in strikeouts said. “I never really found an answer of what to say to (struggling freshmen) because no one really said anything to me that made me feel any better.”

The No. 24 Bruins (21-14, 10-5 Pac-10), though, who host the UC Irvine Anteaters (26-10, 8-4 Big West) tonight at Jackie Robinson Stadium, don’t have to look far to find some freshman success stories on this year’s team.

Freshman shortstop Pat Valaika is hitting .277 in his first season and belted his first collegiate home run Saturday against Stanford.

“I’m just in a groove,” he said after the game. “I feel comfortable at the plate, and I was seeing the ball really well. It seems like everything I hit is falling right now.”

Likewise, freshman second baseman Kevin Williams has started three of the last four games at second base in place of junior Tyler Rahmatulla, who is still dealing with a pending academic issue. Williams became the first UCLA player to have four hits in a game this season when he pulled off the feat a week ago against San Diego State.

As fate would have it, Weiss gets a chance at redemption tonight. He’s 3-1 as a starter and has an earned run average of 2.78.

Sophomore center fielder Beau Amaral ““ just a year removed from the stresses of his freshman season ““ has nothing but faith in his young teammates on the mound.

“We have a lot of confidence in those guys,” he said. “They’ve got good stuff and things haven’t gone their way. We just need to keep putting them out there and giving them breathing room.”

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